Newsletter

Faith Communities: Twelve Tribes

Savannah Morning News

Jason Ressler, top back, and Josh Ressler, bottom back, are offered a plate of homemade snacks and a cup of tea while they enjoy Israeli-style folk music played by members of the Twelve Tribes. On Wednesday nights, the Twelve Tribes, or locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, open the ground-floor doors of the Gwinnett Street house to welcome the public to its Bible study called Nicodemus By Night. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Noah Hallman, 8, left, fixes a plate of food as Jim Wall, 84, who goes by the name Darak, and his wife, Lottie Wall, 82, who goes by the name Darasha, eat the homemade meal with other members of the community at 223 E. Gwinnett St. The Walls are the oldest couple in the world-wide community of the Twelve Tribes. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Members of the Twelve Tribes, or locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, work and live communally, sharing three adjacent homes owned by members at Gwinnett and Lincoln streets. Jim Wall, 84, who goes by the name Darak, eats a homemade meal with other members of the community at 223 E. Gwinnett St. He and his wife, Lottie Wall, 82, who goes by the name Darasha, are the oldest couple in the worldwide community. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Noah Hallman, 8, takes onions upstairs to the kitchen of the Twelve Tribes' main house at 223 E. Gwinnett St. to help make a homemade meal for the community. Members of the Twelve Tribes, or locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, work and live communally, sharing three adjacent homes owned by members at Gwinnett and Lincoln streets. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

On Wednesday nights, the Twelve Tribes or, locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, open the ground-floor doors, left, of the Gwinnett Street house to welcome the public to its Bible study called Nicodemus By Night. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Schimon Simmons, 5, keeps his hair out of his eyes with a headband. The men of the Twelve Tribes, or locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, have their hair pulled back in a ponytail and dress in modest clothing, usually wearing button-up shirts and khaki pants or jeans. Women wear long dresses or pantaloons and plain shirts. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Charis Stephens, left, prepares the table for a community meal at the Twelve Tribes or, locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, main house at 223 E. Gwinnett St. as Isaiah Ramirez, 2, helps put away the clean dishes. The Christian group believes that communal living and giving up personal possessions are necessary to follow Jesus. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

On Wednesday nights, the Twelve Tribes or, locally, the Commonwealth Community Church, open the ground-floor doors of the Gwinnett Street house to welcome the public to its Bible study called Nicodemus By Night. Chris Hallman takes signs out to the front of the house, inviting visitors to come in. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

Israeli-like folk music is played by members of the Twelve Tribes on Wednesday, as the community opens the ground-floor doors of the Gwinnett Street house to welcome the public to its Bible study called Nicodemus By Night. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Chris Hallman is often asked if he's Amish. Or a hippie.

He's neither, he answers.

But he understands why people are confused by his beard, ponytail and uniformly dressed friends while they're selling apple cider and homemade bread on River Street.

Click here to watch an audio slideshow about the Commonwealth Community Church.

Hallman is a member of a religious sect called Twelve Tribes or, locally, the Commonwealth Community Church. The Christian group believes that communal living and giving up personal possessions are necessary to follow Jesus.

In 2003, a Twelve Tribes family moved to Savannah from Brunswick to determine if a community would be welcome. They liked what they saw in downtown Savannah.

"It's so international. It's a hub for all kinds of people," said Patrick Wellons, a leader in the Savannah Twelve Tribes group. "We just knew it would be a good place to meet people."

Today, the group runs a construction business called Commonwealth Construction, has purchased and renovated a number of properties in the Historic District and plans to open a deli on Habersham Street next to the Kroger supermarket.

The community includes 14 families that work and live communally, sharing three adjacent homes owned by members at Gwinnett and Lincoln streets.

Hallman, 32, and his wife Ashley, 28, joined the Twelve Tribes in 2004, after years of searching for a deeper spiritual connection. Each was raised in church-going families in Charleston, S.C. Chris' was Roman Catholic; Ashley's was Presbyterian.

Chris Hallman spent time in his late teens backpacking the country and reading books on religions such as Buddhism and Taoism in search of something "solid," he said.

"I could just feel the status quo American lifestyle wasn't for me. To just grow up and do what people do didn't appeal to me," he said.

The community's simplistic lifestyle and commitment to faith represented the kind of values the Hallmans wanted to teach their children.

"For me there was no question," Chris Hallman said. "When I saw the love people had for one another, helping each other take care of children, I had never seen that anywhere else. It was obvious to me it was the love of God as evidence in people."

Rallying for the team

Twelve Tribes communities around the world, roughly 45 in all, operate independently under the same beliefs and system of governance. Women typically manage the homes, prepare meals and homeschool the children. Most men work together in crews or teams often doing construction or running bakeries or delis.

Members dress in modest clothing. Women wear long dresses or pantaloons and plain shirts, while men usually wear button-up shirts and khaki pants or jeans.

Their appearance may look primitive, but Twelve Tribes' doctrine does not prohibit the use of modern technology. Many carry cell phones and use laptop computers.

Hallman and most of the Savannah men work for Commonwealth Construction. The company recently completed work on The Lady and Sons' new retail store and has purchased at least two downtown Victorian homes to restore and later sell or use for themselves.

But Hallman never sees a paycheck.

Wellons' job is to manage the company and pay the community's bills. He also files taxes for the group and oversees reports for the other Southeastern communities, including Brunswick, Arcadia, Fla., Hiddenite, N.C., Asheville, N.C., and Hillsboro, Va.

"The biggest challenge in my life is I'm not independent," Wellons said. "Before, I was out for the advancement of my family. Now my desire is that the whole community would grow."

Members gather twice daily in the living room of the main house at 223 E. Gwinnett St. to worship, pray and dance in a circle to Israeli-like folks songs. Afterward, they typically share a meal.

As in Hebrew tradition, a ram's horn or conch shell is sounded on Friday evenings to mark the beginning of the Sabbath.

Being part of a community means making sacrifices for the greater good, members say.

"If someone needed to go to a dentist and I wanted a new desk, I'd feel strange pushing the new desk," Ashley said. "We rally for the team."

Winning hearts and winning minds

Members know their way of life looks strange to some.

In the 30 years since the group grew out of the "Jesus Movement" of the 1960s and '70s, critics have called the Twelve Tribes a "cult" and have accused the group of child abuse for using spanking as a form of discipline or for allowing children to work in the group's businesses.

In 1984, the stakes got high in the Island Pond, Vt., community when 90 state police and 50 social workers seized 112 children because of allegations of child abuse. The charges were soon dropped and the children were returned. The raid was described by a judge as "grossly negligent misuse of state power."

In 2005, a woman in Plymouth, Mass., stopped a 14-year-old Twelve Tribes girl walking down the street, called her "a disgrace to God" and punched her in the head.

Wellons said the community has had no problems in Savannah.

The struggles have inspired the group to become advocates for religious freedom and extra-friendly neighbors.

Members mingle with tourists the first Saturday of every month when they sell homemade apple cider and bread on River Street and host occasional tours of a community-owned schooner in Brunswick. Members regularly start pick-up games of volleyball, soccer, Frisbee and kickball at Forsyth Park.

"We like to go out and to meet people. That's why we live in the middle of downtown Savannah," Chris Hallman said. "We go out looking for people who have the same heart as we do, who want something more to life."

On Wednesday nights, members open the ground-floor doors of the Gwinnett Street house to welcome the public to its Bible study called Nicodemus By Night. One or two members lead the open discussion on universal questions of God and the meaning of life. Visitors are offered a plate of homemade snacks and a cup of tea.

Members also provide free lodging to travelers or just about anyone who asks for help.

Hospitality, they believe, is the best form of evangelism.

One recent visitor says it has been effective.

An Austrian traveler who found Savannah's Twelve Tribes community through the Web site couchsurfing.com, described it as "the most interesting couch surfing experience I have made so far."

"The community is like (its) own world inside another world, but they are very welcoming and kind," she said. "You have to be open, though, but if you are, you can experience a wonderful time with singing, praying, eating together. And you may end up reconsidering your life."

About the twelve tribes

Numbers

Locally: About 50

Worldwide: 2,000 - 3,000 living in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Australia.

Religious texts

Adherents regard the Bible- both the Old Testament and the New Testament- as God's word.

Deity/who they worship

God, Jesus Christ (who they call Yahshua) and the Holy Spirit.

About the twelve tribes

Numbers

Locally: About 50

Worldwide: 2,000 - 3,000 living in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Australia.

Religious texts

Adherents regard the Bible- both the Old Testament and the New Testament- as God's word.

Deity/who they worship

God, Jesus Christ (who they call Yahshua) and the Holy Spirit.

Lifestyle

Followers give up possessions and live communally. Adherents observe Hebrew restrictions against eating pork or shellfish and give each other Hebrew names. Men wear their hair in a ponytail and women wear long hair and dress plainly and modestly. Sex outside marriage and drugs and alcohol use are considered sins. Marriage is defined as a covenant between one man and one woman. Watching television is considered unhealthy. Primitive-style folk music is popular and performed almost daily.

Beliefs: What happens when people die?

Humans fall into one of three categories: "wicked," "righteous" and "holy." Upon the second coming of Jesus, the wicked will go to hell. The righteous -described as essentially good people who didn't follow the gospel as interpreted by the Twelve Tribes- will spend eternity on earth and in the universe. The holy- those like themselves who gave up their possessions for Jesus- will go to heaven immediately when they die and rule over all the universe.

How the faith began

Influenced by counterculture Christian hippies in the early 1970s, Elbert Eugene Springs and his wife Marsha launched a zealous Bible study in their Chattanooga home called "The Light Brigade." After the couple's church canceled evening services for the Super Bowl, the group formed The Vine Christian Community, in which members lived together and worked together in the Sprigg's sandwich shop called "The Yellow Deli." Through regular Bible study, followers came to view themselves as mirroring Christians of the first century who lived as a nation called the Commonwealth of Israel, according to the book of Ephesians.